Blackmon Placed on IR *Updated*

[SR711]

Always a blow when a 1st string player is lost for the season.

 

Curious if there are any team specific metrics kept for the league as a whole for number of various 1st string/starter level player games lost to injury and, if there is, where the Colts fall relative to other teams.

 

Feels like year after year we have these types of issues, but its hard to compare because obviously, the Colts are the only team I follow this closely.

[#12.]

Could have kept Hooker for peanuts.

[MB-ColtsFan]

9 minutes ago, Colt Overseas said:

Just thinking, I wonder if there is a team that would be willing to trade a free safety for Marlon Mack.

I'm sure CB is on the phone right now finding out.

However, it being this late in the week I think I would rather wait until after Sunday night to pull the trigger.  With the weather forecast for Sunday we may need Marlon for one more night (queue the Phil Collins tape...).

[Jackie Daytona]

3 hours ago, coming on strong said:

I like the idea of converting tell . He has shown promise 

It's not converting, he's always been a safety they wanted to play at CB.

[Zoltan]

2 hours ago, Wentzszn said:

Bowen just mentioned his name on the radio. Problem he said is the colts record. Who wants to come play for a 2-4 team.

Anyone who wants a paycheck

[Blueblood23]

3 hours ago, MPStack said:

Next man up!

They are getting close to calling me and you up. 

[Jackie Daytona]

2 hours ago, Wentzszn said:

Bowen just mentioned his name on the radio. Problem he said is the colts record. Who wants to come play for a 2-4 team.

NFL players who are unemployed.  Top guys with tons of options won't want to come, but Boston's not that, and it isn't like most of these guys have a lot of choices of teams with cap space.... Less as the year goes on.

[Jackie Daytona]

2 hours ago, Wentzszn said:

We kind of need him at corner. If rock and Rhodes were healthy it could work. 
 

Kenny Moore I think played some safety in college. Could move Rodgers to nickel.

Lmao.....you want to put Tell, a guy who played multiple years at A in college, at corner, where he's been.....ok?   Basically p.s. levels of ok.... So you can move Moore, our all pro lvl Nickelback to S.  Nah 

[cdgacoltsfan]

3 hours ago, BProland85 said:

This loss of Blackmon for the season could be the dagger in the Colts season. He was playing very good football at the safety position, and now what already is a weakness due to injuries in the secondary, is even more a weakness with our pass defense. 

 

This simply sucks. Injuries have plagued this team.

Season from hell

[Chrisaaron1023]

2 hours ago, Patrick Miller said:

Maybe we can coax Antoine Bethea out of retirement!

Nah.. Bob Sanders makes much more sense.

 

That why he'll fit in with an injury too

[Chrisaaron1023]

41 minutes ago, SR711 said:

Always a blow when a 1st string player is lost for the season.

 

Curious if there are any team specific metrics kept for the league as a whole for number of various 1st string/starter level player games lost to injury and, if there is, where the Colts fall relative to other teams.

 

Feels like year after year we have these types of issues, but its hard to compare because obviously, the Colts are the only team I follow this closely.

Someone will be here quickly to tell you the Ravens are the most banged up.. while they sit at 5-1 stop the AFC..

[Nickster]

11 hours ago, AustinnKaine said:

i wonder if there is an underlying reason or just coincidence. 

Probably coincidence.  One would assume that the Colts train within the basic latest scientific parameters like any other time likely does. 

 

But man. There's been enough of this crapola to make me get the Reynolds Wrap out and make a Fedora. 

[MPStack]

33 minutes ago, Blueblood23 said:

They are getting close to calling me and you up. 

Maybe even Nesby Glasgow at this point! 

[Four2itus]

1 hour ago, Wentzszn said:

We did only have 3 safeties on the 53 to start the season I believe. That included Odum who doesn’t play defense. Then had 12 dline.

I was commenting about Blackmon being injured. If the thread was called, "Why don't the Colts have enough S depth", I wouldn't have posted that. 

[shasta519]

46 minutes ago, SchlicterSZN said:

It's not converting, he's always been a safety they wanted to play at CB.

 

I always thought the "draft Tell to develop him at CB" move was one of those "smartest guys in the room" moments.

 

Tell played S in college, had great height and wingspan...and insane athleticism (short area quickness, COD, jumping, etc.). The one thing he wasn't great at was straightline speed. Just seemed like he was tailor-made to play S in a zone scheme with his closing speed and athleticism.

 

I guess they thought he would struggle to tackle, but it's not like CBs don't have to tackle either.

 

He will always be one of those "what could have been" players for me. Hopefully he can come back from IR and get some snaps this year. 

[Four2itus]

52 minutes ago, #12. said:

Could have kept Hooker for peanuts.

Were you supportive of Hooker while he was here?

[2006Coltsbestever]

Maybe Bob Sanders should come back 

[cdgacoltsfan]

Just think...we get to watch all these bizarre injuries all over again on.. In Season Hard Knocks this November.

[Shive]

49 minutes ago, SchlicterSZN said:

Lmao.....you want to put Tell, a guy who played multiple years at A in college, at corner, where he's been.....ok?   Basically p.s. levels of ok.... So you can move Moore, our all pro lvl Nickelback to S.  Nah 

She was talking about possibly moving Moore to FS and Rodgers to NB. There was no mention of Tell....

[Nickster]

Depending on who plays, assuming the guy is an NFL competent FS, we will likely be better in deep and intermediate coverage.  But we will definitely lose something valuable on the way Blackmon comes up and makes plays in front.

 

I bet we will barely notice his loss, again assuming we don't have a Sam Tevi/Curtis Painter type of replacement. 

[Nickster]

Some of us were talking about maybe converting RYS to FS.  I'd actually love to see it.  I could see him being a Holy Terror at FS.  Knocking the pizz out of guys in front and corner skills behind.  I could see Rock being a perennial Pro Bowl type at FS if not All Pro. 

 

We obviously have Corner issues, but man I really think this kid might just be playing out of position in the NFL.  Too slow for corner. 

[Bravo]

1 hour ago, Four2itus said:

I suppose this is Ballard's fault too? Na.....it must be Frank's.....

 

Can’t blame the general manager when there aren’t quality backups on the team? Can’t blame the head coach for poor play calling and game management? Are you upset that people aren’t happy the Colts are terrible this year and weren’t prepared to play a long season.

 

The Ravens had a ton of injuries (a couple season ending) to start the year and they are playing well. It’s Ballard’s fault for not having quality backups pieces (and the Colts DO NOT have many) and it’s Reichs fault for allowing the Colts to lose these “winnable games” So yes, it is their fault.
 

Also, Colts are middle to high in the league for injuries every year, sometimes it’s not “unlucky” sometimes it the way training staff and medical staff handle the players.

 

 

 

 

[Nickster]

3 hours ago, DougDew said:

I agree about Tell.

 

I'm neither a Ballard worshipper (obvious), but I'm not a Ballard second guesser as much as some have evolved into being.  But there is some lack of vision if the FO thought that Willis could be anything but an in-the-box SS.  Given that limitation, he's really not a C2 half-field deep safety.  Relying upon him and Blackmon to man the deep halves was doomed to problems, IMO.

 

Maybe they feel comfortable with Odum in a pinch, or maybe they thought (hoped) Tell would show more.....or that 5th round draft pick Davis would stick.    A lot of wannabe hope-it-works-out type of thinking, IMO.

East and I used to talk about this.  It was difficult to see what the club had in mind with their drafts.  

 

I thought and still think that they would love to be an aggressive C2 type of team or a Tampa base type.  Drafting Rock seemed like evidence of this.  He seems like a hard C2 corner who is going to help close down the EDGE and beat up on releasing WRs.  

 

But then we had just gotten Hooker who was the classic single high C3, C1 centerfielder, So WTPH?  We drafted Leonard who obviously wasn't and is probably never going to be a a great coverage LB.  And we've never even tried to get after a coverage LB as far as I can tell.  

 

Then we get Blackmon which would make one think that we were going to have him come up and hit, but then we were dropping Hooker before the Achilles, because he was a budding star in the single high and then had a mediocre year in more of a 2 high scheme, then improved and we decided we didn't want him.

 

But overdrafts at DE, have really ruined any plans.  Hopefully Dayo and Paye pan out and we get the Front 4 pressure the D desperately needs. I am not convinced they will.  I like Paye but the ole Undeveloped pass rusher thing hasn't been great lately. 

 

It's pretty hard to figure out, and I think we are a mess on D. 

[Mr.Debonair]

I know ppl are down on the Blackmon injury but bringing up Hooker, like he wasn't : #1 hurt alot or #2 not very good, is silly

[Nesjan3]

2 hours ago, Four2itus said:

I suppose this is Ballard's fault too? Na.....it must be Frank's.....

Haha ok nobody is saying injuries are Ballard or Franks fault but seriously when the team stinks who else's fault would it be. The players of course? Well Ballard drafted them and Frank coaches them. I get there is a lot of hate on this board when things go bad but they have to face criticism when its not working because they are the ones in charge. 

[Nickster]

8 minutes ago, Mr.Debonair said:

I know ppl are down on the Blackmon injury but bringing up Hooker, like he wasn't : #1 hurt alot or #2 not very good, is silly

What makes you say Hooker wasn't good?  Obviously he had injury issues.  

 

His PFF grades were 65 rookie year, better than JB, 79 sophomore year, budding star, and in his "oFF" year his 3rd year was 70.  The dude was a really good coverage FS.  He was way better than JB has been yet. 

 

He was a different style of FS all together, more of a coverage type and that is what we severely need IMO. 

[GoColts8818]

1 hour ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Maybe Bob Sanders should come back 

I know this is a joke but if he did he’d play one game and go on IR.  He did that in his prime lol.

[Mr.Debonair]

10 minutes ago, Nickster said:

What makes you say Hooker wasn't good?  Obviously he had injury issues.  

 

His PFF grades were 65 rookie year, better than JB, 79 sophomore year, budding star, and in his "oFF" year his 3rd year was 70.  The dude was a really good coverage FS.  He was way better than JB has been yet. 

 

He was a different style of FS all together, more of a coverage type and that is what we severely need IMO. 

In this defense that we are currently running, Hooker is ineffective. He fit a little better with Pagano style defense. After his rookie season, Hooker damn near went ghost not many plays made. You'd pretty much forget he was out there. 

[Solon]

8 minutes ago, Nickster said:

What makes you say Hooker wasn't good?  Obviously he had injury issues.  

 

His PFF grades were 65 rookie year, better than JB, 79 sophomore year, budding star, and in his "oFF" year his 3rd year was 70.  The dude was a really good coverage FS.  He was way better than JB has been yet. 

 

He was a different style of FS all together, more of a coverage type and that is what we severely need IMO. 

He's judging his performance based on stats like many on this board did. Teams rarely threw the ball at Hooker. It's funny how NFL teams respected his talent, but not his own fanbase. Our team was clearly better when he played. If he wasn't injury prone, he'd be one of the top paid safeties in the league.

[Nickster]

3 minutes ago, Mr.Debonair said:

In this defense that we are currently running, Hooker is ineffective. He fit a little better with Pagano style defense. After his rookie season, Hooker damn near went ghost not many plays made. You'd pretty much forget he was out there. 

It's not a bad thing when your cover FS is not heard from man.  That means he isn't giving up completions, which is his primary job.   It's like a corner or a lineman.  You don't want to hear your corners name.  Not even knocking one down.  That means they aren't throwing his way.  

You don't want to hear your OL being called in a game, usually means they got beat or a flag.  

5 minutes ago, Mr.Debonair said:

In this defense that we are currently running, Hooker is ineffective. He fit a little better with Pagano style defense. After his rookie season, Hooker damn near went ghost not many plays made. You'd pretty much forget he was out there. 

What defense are we currently running? 

[Nickster]

14 minutes ago, Solon said:

He's judging his performance based on stats like many on this board did. Teams rarely threw the ball at Hooker. It's funny how NFL teams respected his talent, but not his own fanbase. Our team was clearly better when he played. If he wasn't injury prone, he'd be one of the top paid safeties in the league.

I couldn't believe they declined his option to draft a guy coming off an Achilles.  It ended up being a good thing though because he lost his Achilles.  Our D has suffered from a lack of a coverage safety since then. 

[Mr.Debonair]

9 minutes ago, Nickster said:

It's not a bad thing when your cover FS is not heard from man.  That means he isn't giving up completions, which is his primary job.   It's like a corner or a lineman.  You don't want to hear your corners name.  Not even knocking one down.  That means they aren't throwing his way.  

You don't want to hear your OL being called in a game, usually means they got beat or a flag.  

What defense are we currently running? 

We mostly are a zone based Cover 2 or Cover 3 style scheme. Eberflus tries to be multiple at times with man but the zone cover 2 or 3 is mostly where everything begins

[Nickster]

2 minutes ago, Mr.Debonair said:

We mostly are a zone based Cover 2 or Cover 3 style scheme. Eberflus tries to be multiple at times with man but the zone cover 2 or 3 is mostly where everything begins

So you don't think you need a cover type safety in those schemes? 

 

Cover three begs for it, and usually C2 has a good one too.  He wasn't bad in C2 he was well better than average and was improving. 

[DougDew]

1 hour ago, Nickster said:

East and I used to talk about this.  It was difficult to see what the club had in mind with their drafts.  

 

I thought and still think that they would love to be an aggressive C2 type of team or a Tampa base type.  Drafting Rock seemed like evidence of this.  He seems like a hard C2 corner who is going to help close down the EDGE and beat up on releasing WRs.  

 

But then we had just gotten Hooker who was the classic single high C3, C1 centerfielder, So WTPH?  We drafted Leonard who obviously wasn't and is probably never going to be a a great coverage LB.  And we've never even tried to get after a coverage LB as far as I can tell.  

 

Then we get Blackmon which would make one think that we were going to have him come up and hit, but then we were dropping Hooker before the Achilles, because he was a budding star in the single high and then had a mediocre year in more of a 2 high scheme, then improved and we decided we didn't want him.

 

But overdrafts at DE, have really ruined any plans.  Hopefully Dayo and Paye pan out and we get the Front 4 pressure the D desperately needs. I am not convinced they will.  I like Paye but the ole Undeveloped pass rusher thing hasn't been great lately. 

 

It's pretty hard to figure out, and I think we are a mess on D. 

Its simple, IMO.  We can't play C2, C1, and C3.  The players that have the variety of high level talents and skills needed to play multiple coverages are simply not available at a reasonable price.  A D can't go switching up personnel to play the different coverages.  Most players need to stay on the field and be versatile.

 

Pick a scheme and play it 80% of the time.  Learn to coach it well to lessen the scheme's warts and have a persistent pass rush that helps the secondary.

 

I don't know who in the FO isn't seeing this.  If its Flus at the core of this, well, its been an issue for about 3 years so Ballard must be blind then.  I'm not in a position to know the priorities of such decision making so I can't say they don't know what they're looking at, but it sure is hard to see how the players fit into any type of consistent defensive scheme.

 

That goes for the DEs too.  Lewis is looking better, but Ben and Turay never seemed like good fits like Paye and Dayo do.

[Mr.Debonair]

5 minutes ago, Nickster said:

So you don't think you need a cover type safety in those schemes? 

 

Cover three begs for it, and usually C2 has a good one too.  He wasn't bad in C2 he was well better than average and was improving. 

We def need it. I’m not disagreeing there. I just don’t think he’s the answer. I wholeheartedly agree it’s needed tho

[Nickster]

10 minutes ago, DougDew said:

Its simple, IMO.  We can't play C2, C1, and C3.  The players that have the variety of high level talents and skills needed to play multiple coverages are simply not available at a reasonable price.  A D can't go switching up personnel to play the different coverages.  Most players need to stay on the field and be versatile.

 

Pick a scheme and play it 80% of the time.  Learn to coach it well to lessen the scheme's warts and have a persistent pass rush that helps the secondary.

 

I don't know who in the FO isn't seeing this.  If its Flus at the core of this, well, its been an issue for about 3 years so Ballard must be blind then.  I'm not in a position to know the priorities of such decision making so I can't say they don't know what they're looking at, but it sure is hard to see how the players fit into any type of consistent defensive scheme.

 

That goes for the DEs too.  Lewis is looking better, but Ben and Turay never seemed like good fits like Paye and Dayo do.

 

yep.  I don't get it.   I do maintain with Leonard, Blackmon, and RYS, its seems like they were interested in making some sort of C2/T2 the base.  But yeah.  I don't know.  

 

Our D looks like a Jackson Pollock canvas to me. 

[MikeCurtis]

I dont see it happening, but IMHO, making a play for Maye would be just what the DR ordered

 

He is FA after this year, so Jets will get comp picks, so 4th or 5th, just isnt going to get it done

 

Maybe 2 4ths......

 

This defense needs a good S 

 

Maye is a top 10 S

 

I had very high hopes for Blackmon, but something seems to be missing 

 

 

[superrep1967]

14 hours ago, EastStreet said:

Sendejo is LP and working his way back from concussion protocol. I expect he'll be fine since he was LP today.

Tell is IR'd for at least 3 weeks, but don't think they've said why.

 

I think it would be Willis at SS, and then either one of the others at FS (short term). Odom came in for bit and it was not pretty. Long term though (if truly out for the season) Colts need to make a move. Either converting a CB to S, or making a trade. Maybe Jones with his speed can manage?

Trade Mack for one. 

[Scott Pennock]

Kenny Moore was a Free Safety at Valdosta moreso than a corner. Move him back and let Rodgers play the slot.

[2006Coltsbestever]

1 hour ago, GoColts8818 said:

I know this is a joke but if he did he’d play one game and go on IR.  He did that in his prime lol.

Nah I give him 2 games maybe 3